The Name
by twobedroomtardis
Summary: The Doctor makes promises, and then he breaks them. Because he thinks about her all the time, his pink and yellow girl. And sometimes, he let's her name slip out, without an explanation. And Amy notices. (Moments in the Doctor/Rose relationship, spanning across all seasons except season 1.)
1. The Picture

**Disclaimer: Doctor Who isn't mine. **

The thing he won't mention – doesn't dare mention, not even now, after all this time – is that he's been in love before.

She was all pink and yellow and purple shirts flung over the silver banisters of the TARDIS. She was a young thing, a pretty blonde one, and she smiled with her tongue peeking out between her teeth (he would dream of that tongue in the years to come – more than 200 years later and, still, he could never, ever forget that tongue).

And then Donna: wonderful, brilliant Donna with her flaming red hair and her _questions_ – he was forced to say her name (the last time, he swore). If he's being honest, it was a relief to get it out of his system.

Martha, with her unrequited infatuation, wrung out the name once more. That time, it had been a reassurance, a warning: the Doctor had loved that woman (defender of the _Earth_, she was, and yet he wanted her to stay _everywhere _with him), and he could not, would not, love Martha back.

So Donna returned to the Doctor (or had the Doctor returned to Donna?) and, once again, she pressed him for answers until, eventually, Donna met her in a dream. That's all the Doctor allowed himself, the knowledge that it was a dream and nothing more. She couldn't return to him, not ever.

Until, of course, she did.

And then he left her. Or she loved him. Or he stayed, he's not sure _how _to describe it. Even now, it confuses him. (The last time, he'd think of her for certain, he swore.)

Amelia Pond, the girl who waited, his glorious Pond, she never asked, not once.

But she knew, of course she knew.

Because the TARDIS had just one spare room (an oath to himself that the Doctor wouldn't take too many lives into his own hands at the same time), and just one chest of drawers in that room, and just one shirt remained, folded carefully into a rectangle at the very, very back of the bottom drawer. And she had unfolded the shirt, shaken it out to hold it up in front of her torso and see how it would look on her (not good). And then a picture, a tiny polaroid fluttered out – the girl with short, yellow hair, light pink skin, and a hand rested upon the Doctor's chest.

On the back of the photograph, scrawled out quickly, was a name –_ Rose Tyler_.


	2. The First Kiss

He didn't speak to her for days afterwards. When he does, it's low and dangerous – a warning.

"If you're planning on staying with me, Rose Tyler," he pauses and she shivers. "You don't get to be a fool. You can be naive as you like and wild as you like but if you do anything so plainly _stupid _again, I'm bringing you back to Jackie."

After a moment she smiles, hoping he'll mirror her and everything will go back to the way it was. "I can't even remember what I did," she responds, beaming that mad smile of hers. He doesn't smile back and she allows her tongue to peek through her teeth, a last effort to return to normality. It's to no avail, though, and Rose lets the smile drop. "Okay, I'm sorry. It won't happen again."

Of course Rose remembers. She dreams about that day, the planet with the sky that displayed the solar system in its entirety, and every color was so vibrant she had to squint. They had been to beautiful planets before, had run from aliens and chased after them, had helped and hurt and lost people. But that time Rose wasn't satisfied with corridors and science and mysteries she was getting better at solving as time passed. That time, Rose wanted to sit in a field and look at that wondrous sky and talk to her Doctor and laugh with him, hold his hand, rest her head on his shoulder and point out the shapes they made as they passed.

So they found trouble the way they always did, but that time Rose ran, the way he had told her to when they first met. _Away_ from the trouble.

And then – _smack! – _ran head first into it. There was a fair amount of blood and so many screams that she could only whisper the next day (not that he responded), and then there were his footsteps – background noise to the pounding in her head. And he rescued her.**  
**

But Rose really _was _sorry about it, that was the thing. She wanted the Doctor, _her _Doctor, to forgive her and then they could go on traveling together like they always did. So she forces that smile back onto her face and peeks out the tip of her tongue the way he always seems to notice, and then she takes a step towards him.

"Seriously, Doctor, I'm sorry and it won't happen again, promise. Now give me that lovely smile of yours."

He smiles reluctantly and looks down at her. "Don't do that again."

"I won't."

There are more steps taken and somewhere along the way he had taken her hand.

"I don't believe you for one second, Rose Tyler."

And, because it was so cheesy and so perfect and they have been taking their goddamn time getting on with it, she responds with "Believe me. I won't leave you again," and then she kisses him.

Tiptoes and frantic lips and quick breaths and hands all over. That was their first kiss.

**Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed and don't hesitate to review! I'll continue with these little moments for a while, I think, and the other companions will make appearances as well. Thank you, also, to those of you who reviewed the first chapter. You guys rock my socks.**


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